Buying a used car in Florida is a great choice to save you money as it’s one of the cheapest states in America for used cars. However, given that there is no lemon law to protect used-car purchases from private car sellers and the amount of salvaged vehicles because of the frequently-hit storms, you’ll need to be careful. So, what can help? Our answer is to run a VIN check, which gives you peace of mind when purchasing a pre-owned car in Florida.

What’s a VIN check and why is it important

The VIN( Vehicle Identification Number) is a 17-digit identifier assigned uniquely to every vehicle. A VIN number is like a fingerprint for a car and it can be used to pull up important information about the car through a VIN check.

By running a Florida VIN check with the right online tools, you may be able to discover whether a car was involved in an accident or whether it has been salvaged/ flooded/ damaged. You may also learn about the previous owner, the current market value and a variety of other useful info.

How to run a Florida VIN check

When you plan to buy a vehicle in Florida, instead of relying solely on what the seller says about the car, running a VIN check on your own can help you figure out if there are any potential problems with the car. Here are some ways to do it:

1. Perform a high-quality VIN check with BeenVerified

BeenVerified is an excellent tool for obtaining detailed information about a Florida vehicle. With just the VIN number you provided, BeenVerified can find the corresponding car and generate a vehicle report using 150+ data points. Besides basic information about the Florida vehicle, it’ll give you access to the vehicle’s history to assist you in determining whether the used car is worth your money.

1. Head to the BeenVerified VIN lookup page.
2. Enter a VIN number and then click SEARCH.
   
3. A VIN check report looks like this will be present to you after you set up your account.
   

2. Run a VIN search via Bumper

Bumper is another great option for learning more about a Florida vehicle. With updated data from NMVTIS, JD Power, NHTSA, and many other top industry leaders, Bumper is an affordable VIN decoder you can rely on. You can not only get in-depth info like the vehicle’s history record, but also check if a car has ever been totaled or listed in a salvage auction.

1. Head to Bumper Vehicle Search.
2. Input a VIN and click SEARCH to start searching.
   
3. Wait as Bumper scans its database and scours all the available records of the vehicle. After that, a well-organized vehicle report will be presented to you.
   

3. Look up a VIN through FLHSMV

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) is responsible for offering services and education for Florida Highway Safety and Security. If a vehicle is titled in Florida, you can use its VIN check page as a free resource to search for the vehicle’s information.

1. Visit the FLHSMV Vehicle Information Check page.
2. Enter the VIN number as well as the image code, then click Search.
   
3. If the website finds a match, it’ll take you to the vehicle info page, where you can confirm the vehicle description and check for brands.

That’s all. Hope you can successfully conduct the Florida VIN check and gain the power of knowledge for negotiating a car deal when you are planning to buy a used car in Florida. Thanks for reading！

_{*Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash}